Land or Earth: A Terminological Study of Hebrew 'eres' and Aramaic 'ara' in the Graeco-Roman Period

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This volume discusses the Hebrew term 'eres' which is prominently used in Creation and Land theologies in the Bible. Uemura examines whether the term signifies the 'earth' or the 'Land' and traces the historical development of its uses in relation to these two meanings. He offers a survey of all of the occurrences of this term, categorizes them, and discusses the problematic instances in all of the surviving Hebrew and Aramaic texts. Uemura's examination begins with an analysis of the terms under discussion literally and stylistically in order to discern the semantic field of each term, as well as to determine its stylistic idiomatic uses. He discusses the uses of these two terms in ancient non-Jewish circumstances using materials taken from Phoenician, New Punic, Moabite and Aramaic inscriptions, as well as from an Aramaic papyri from Egypt and Nabataean papyri from Nahal Hever. The aim of this study is to show a cultural background of uses of these terms and Uemura sheds light on the biblical worldview in the Graeco-Roman period.

Reviews

In this revision of his dissertation Uemura sets himself a twofold task: to determine the sense of the Hebrew and Aramaic words and to trace the development of their meaning. The research covers periods that extend over 460 years and examines biblical as well as nonbiblical literature. It follows a chronological trajectory beginning with the Maccabean period and extending through the Hasmonean period, the time of Qumran, the Herodian and Early Roman period to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. This highly detailed investigation seeks to shed light on the worldview of the Greco-Roman period. Since it is a linguistic study, it presumes knowledge of both Hebrew and Greek as well as some of the literature contemporary to the biblical periods examined. The summaries that follow the examination of each appearance of the words and the conclusions at the end of each chapter are very helpful. Though the book will appeal to a limited audience, it will be appreciated by those in the field. * Bible Today *

Author Bio

Shizuka Uemura is a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He is the author of Perversion of Religions (2008, in Japanese).